Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Dogs of War edited by Mike McPhail

Everyone has heard the typical response to anthologies: Some
stories are good, some aren’t.With so
many different writers, it is more or less guaranteed that no reader will enjoy
every story, and most of the time you find a few that just don’t work for you.I came across this very situation with the
last anthology I read, L. Ron Hubbard
Presents Writers of the Future, Volume 30.It is the nature of multi-author collections.

So when I read and loved the first story, Christopher M.
Hiles’ “The Shepherds,” I figured that I would be coming across a dud
soon.When I finished “Brothers” by
Danielle Ackley-McPhail, the final story in the collection, I realized that
those duds never showed their face.Editor Mike McPhail’s Dogs of War
is brilliant military science fiction from start to finish.

Part of the Defending the Future military science fiction
anthology series, Dogs of War takes
the theme of dogs (or other companion animals) in combat, and runs with it in
seventeen different directions, each one fascinating.Some, like the aforementioned story by Hiles,
felt like the start of a much bigger story, and readers will be keeping their
eyes peeled for more from these authors.

Authors embraced the ideas of robotic dogs in combat, birds
of prey performing recon, entire units made up of nothing but augmented
animals, some even exploring the boundaries (or lack thereof) or human and
canine soldiers in the future.Readers
concerned that Dogs of War would be a
sappy collection of military science fiction dog lover stories are missing out
on the massive breadth of content, the engaging conflicts and fascinating
futures, and a host of talented authors.Military science fictions fans will love this anthology.